Accra, Ghana//-The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has urged Ghana to tap into the $4.5 trillion global agriculture industry by formulating the right policies and programmes.
The FAO Representative to Ghana (OiC), Gueye Ndiaga made this call at the inception meeting of the phase III Monitoring and Analyzing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP III) programme in Accra.
According to him, agriculture is a global $4.5 trillion industry that provides food, bio-fuels, and other products to a variety of consumers globally.
It is also one of the most dynamic and innovative areas of the global economy Ghana needs to and most certainly can be part of it, he added.
Mr Ndiaga noted: “Farming is a pillar of the Ghana’s economy. Food and agriculture has been one of the important economic sectors contributing to Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) from 2010 to 2020”.
Agric share to GDP
In 2020, the share of agriculture in Ghana’s gross domestic product was 18.24 percent, industry contributed approximately 34.69 percent and the services sector contributed about 42.63 percent and agriculture provided employment for 29.75% of the national labour force as at 2019 according to the World Bank Statistics.
Furthermore, not only is agriculture essential to Ghana’s economic health and future; it is also a proud tradition of families across this land, often going back many generations.
Here in Ghana, more than one third of citizens are engaged in agricultural activities and are involved in selling agricultural products to supplement their income.
Agriculture is clearly central to the lives and livelihoods of citizens in communities throughout Ghana. And yet, agriculture often does not get the attention it deserves, Mr Ndiaga lamented.
Inclusive agric transformation
“For an inclusive agricultural transformation agenda, there needs to be a well-informed, coherent, evidence-based and data-informed policy-making.
The right mix of policy interventions, regulations and investments can accelerate the process of agricultural transformation”, he told participants at the meeting who were key stakeholders in the country’s agric sector.
Identifying such policy mixes, however according to Mr Ndiaga, is challenging and reliable and robust analyses are necessary to support government when deciding which policies to implement and investments to finance.
Phase III of the MAFAP programme
This inception meeting is to introduce the Phase III of the FAO’s MAFAP programme as well as agree with Government partners and other stakeholders to jointly identify areas of analytical policy works that are aligned to Government needs that will inure significantly to Ghana’s agricultural and economic transformation.
For this next phase of the MAFAP programme (2021-2026), FAO seeks to work with the Government of Ghana and other relevant stakeholders to support the process of agricultural transformation in Ghana by providing support on agricultural policies.
“In partnership with the Government, the programme seeks to do so through development of dedicated policy monitoring tools; tools to support public investment decisions; and dedicated analyses to assess policy options to overcome issues seen as important obstacles to agricultural transformation”.
Beyond the technical work, this phase of the MAFAP programme also seeks to further institutionalize the type of work done by MAFAP, such that this type of analyses can be provided successfully and sustainably to the Ghanaian government beyond the lifespan of the programme.
Mr Ndiaga used the occasion to express his sincere appreciation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the strong support and assistance for the MAFAP Programme.
In a virtual joint presentation by Francisco Pereira Fontes, and Renata Baborska, both officials of MAFAP, they noted that the MAFAP programme was entering into its third phase with its scope of work defined by its overreaching goal.
This goal they mentioned are-providing evidence to drive a sustainable policy environment for inclusive agricultural transformation in partner countries.
During this phase of the MAFAP, FAO seeks to work with the Government of Ghana and other relevant stakeholders to support the process of agricultural transformation by providing support on agricultural policies with a focus on three areas of work.
These areas according to Mr Fontes are-policy monitoring indicators, policy reform work, and policy prioritisation.
Overview of MAFAP
The Manager of MAFAP, Christian Derlagen, said the Monitoring and Analyzing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme which is an FAO Programme supports partner Governments by monitoring agricultural policies and providing high quality technical analysis in order to inform policy decision making in member countries.
The programme according to him carries out in-depth studies on selected policy issues in different areas of the food and agricultural sector, including trade and market policies, and agri-food public expenditures and investments.
The evidence generated by these studies encourages policy dialogue and fosters policy changes at country level.
The FAO with the support of National Partners have implemented Phase I and Phase II of the MAFAP programme since 2009 until 2020 in sixteen countries including Ghana, where the nature of the programme has evolved significantly since its inception.
African Eye Report